Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Flames
by TeamImprov
Summary: The first time Mac gets badly injured on Jack's watch might just be the last.


Prompt from whumpdoyoumean on tumblr: Mac gets shot in the arm and the side and Jack starts freaking out over the arm wound without noticing there was also a bullet in his side.

Summary: The first time Mac gets badly injured on Jack's watch might just be the last.

**Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Flames**

Mac hadn't been working at DXS for long but he had already learned that there were many constants in their line of work.

Every mission was different, and challenged them in new ways, but there were things that were always guaranteed to stay the same. Missions would always go wrong, plans would need to change, and they would almost always be shot at. Luckily, they could dodge bullets pretty well at this point. Not literally, but they were shot at way more than they were ever actually shot so that was something positive at least.

Mac knew that luck couldn't hold up forever, though. He knew there would be a day when the bullets would start flying and they wouldn't be lucky enough to get out of the way fast enough. This was as good a day as any, Mac supposed, as he followed Jack through the seemingly endless network of hallways they were running through.

He didn't have a clue about what it would feel like.

Getting shot definitely wasn't an everyday occurrence but maybe it was when you worked for a covert spy organization. It didn't feel like what he thought it would. It felt like he got punched, hard, but he thought getting shot for the first time would hurt a lot more. He knew he was going to have to tell Jack, that adrenaline was most likely the only thing keeping the real pain at bay so he could keep going, but he hated to think of how Jack would react. This was new territory in their partnership. Jack might get mad at him for being careless, and maybe it was his fault, but more than likely he would panic which was something Mac wanted to avoid at all costs.

"You okay, man?" Jack asked him when they finally stopped long enough to hide in a broom closet. There was still too much activity for them to safely get back to the van so they would have to hole up until it was quieter outside. They were safe, for now at least. Jack was surprised to find that Mac wasn't standing behind him anymore and instead was sitting on an upside down plastic bucket and was breathing a little too heavily for Jack's liking. "You're looking a little pale, there."

"I'm okay, Jack." Mac told him, and wanted that to be true so badly. But Jack was observant, Mac would give him that. It took all of two seconds before Jack's eyes landed on the growing bloodstain on his shirtsleeve.

"Why didn't you tell me they winged ya?" Jack asked, grabbing Mac's elbow and maneuvering his arm around so he could see the wound better.

"I don't know if you noticed but we were kind of running for our lives." Mac hissed when Jack found a particularly tender spot.

"Quit being such a baby, man, it's just a scratch. You'll be fine." Jack told him as he ripped a strip from the bottom of his shirt and began tying it around Mac's arm. "And either way, a little warning would be nice. If we're gonna be working together we have to lay some more ground rules. First one is you telling me the second you're injured, that one's non-negotiable."

"Jack." Mac dreaded having to worry Jack any more than he already was but he was starting to feel cold despite the humid weather.

"Hold still, would ya? Stop moving around."

"Jack."

"What?" Jack finally stopped his ministrations and looked up from Mac's arm long enough to really see his face. Crap, Mac thought, he could already tell that Jack's worry was elevating just by looking at his face and they hadn't even gotten to the best part yet.

"Okay," Mac started. "You have to promise me you won't freak out."

"What are you talking about, dude?" Jack tightened the strip of fabric around Mac's arm and tied it securely, causing Mac to wince once again.

"Jack, just…promise, okay?"

"Okay, okay, geez. I promise." Jack let his hands fall from Mac's upper arm but he kept one of them on Mac's back. The kid looked too pale and was starting to waver. Getting shot for the first time sucked and Jack was surprised he was still upright. Sure, the wound wasn't too bad but the first time always took a pretty big toll mentally. He was starting to get the feeling that there was something else the kid wasn't saying, though. That made Jack a little too uneasy for his liking.

"I, uh, I think I got hit." Mac stumbled over the words and wouldn't look Jack in the eyes anymore as if he was afraid he was going to get in trouble. He was probably in shock, yeah, the arm wound wasn't bleeding anymore but the shock of the whole situation must have been getting to him. The kid was barely twenty; of course a bullet to the arm would disorient him.

"No kidding, but don't worry, the bleeding's slowing and you might not even need stitches." Jack patted him lightly on the back but as Jack went to stand Mac swayed more heavily.

"No, uh, not there."

Jack froze. He didn't like the sound of that. He didn't like the sound of that at all.

"You trying to tell me you caught a bullet somewhere else?" Jack said, his voice scarily blank.

"You promised not to freak out." Mac reminded him and now Jack could clearly see how much Mac was hunching over himself.

"Tell me where, right now, kid." Jack couldn't keep the anger out of his voice and he cursed himself when Mac flinched back a little. Jack tried to sooth his features into a more comforting expression. He didn't want Mac to think he was mad at him. He was the last person Jack was angry at. Jack swallowed hard when Mac pulled his jacket aside. The right side of the light grey, long sleeve shirt he was wearing underneath was slowly being overtaken by red.

"Geez, kid!" Jack exclaimed, pushing Mac down so he was leaning more against the wall for support. Mac all but collapsed backwards, as if now that Jack knew about the obviously worse wound the strength he had to hide it had disappeared completely. Mac winced, his breath hitching when Jack pressed his hand against the wound. "Why didn't you say something?"

"I'm pretty sure I did," Mac gritted out. Jack smirked; at least the blood loss wasn't affecting his ability to be a pain in the ass.

"No, I mean when I was fussing over your arm." Jack reprimanded lightly. "You could have told me you were bleeding like a sieve."

"I mean, I did tell you." Mac insisted again before his eyes slammed shut and he pressed his head back against the wall. Jack winced in sympathy as Mac's left leg kicked out at the dirty floor and his breathing sped up dangerously. "Ow."

"Yeah, no kidding, ow." Jack scoffed to himself while wondering how he got saddled with a partner even more stubborn than himself. That's probably why he liked the kid so much, why he was willing to spend even more time in hell to protect him and then when they both got out move all the way to California to still be around the blond haired know-it-all that had wormed his way into his heart. "And I meant sooner. If you're hurt in two places and one is obviously worse than the other and I only see the less bad one – for that love of all that is holy, please tell me about the life threatening one and I mean like immediately! You don't have to be that polite with me, kid, you should know that by now."

"I know, I'm sorry." Mac hissed. Jack really didn't like the way he was looking. If they didn't get out of there soon…no, Jack wasn't going to go there.

"No more apologizing, either, okay hoss." Jack knew he had to keep Mac talking, keep him awake until they could get out of there. Jack stood and pressed his ear to the door and sighed when he could still hear movement outside. It wasn't close but now that he knew Mac was hurt they couldn't take their chances unless he was certain they wouldn't have to fight anyone on their way out. Jack wasn't going to risk the kid catching anymore bullets. He had enough holes in him as it was.

"You breathing alright?" Jack asked as he sat on the bucket Mac had been sitting on before.

"Yeah," Mac wheezed, which did nothing to convince Jack that there was even a modicum of truth behind the words.

"You sure, man? You're wheezing more than my Aunt Ida who smoked two packs a day for over fifty years."

"Jack…I'll be fine." Mac insisted, his eyes drifting closed as his hand tightened over the wound. Jack could see the blood oozing out between Mac's slender fingers and rubbed his hands together nervously. They had to move. There was too much blood which told Jack something bad must have been hit inside Mac. They couldn't wait around any longer.

Jack moved forward until he was kneeling beside Mac. He reached over and grabbed some clothes on the shelf by Mac's head and pressed the wad of material to the bleeding wound in his side. Then he pressed Mac's hands back on top of them.

"All right, I know you're not going to like this but I think I gotta carry you out of here." Jack told him. Mac frowned, shaking his head.

"No, I can walk."

"No, you can't, Mac. This is bad, bud, and I promise I'm gonna get you out of here but you have to trust me. You've gotta keep pressure on that, okay, don't let up on it for a second."

"Okay," Mac said, coughing wetly. Jack's heart nearly stopped at the flecks of red that appeared on Mac's teeth. Lung, then. He thought that might be the case but he was hoping it wasn't.

"Okay, don't worry about a thing." Jack told him before reaching one arm under Mac's knees and the other behind his back. Jack was always making fun of Mac for being a skinny kid but he was all lean muscle and just as tall as Jack so he was a lot heavier than he looked but Jack wasn't about to let that stop him. "Up we go, you keeping pressure on there?"

"Yeah…" Mac's head rolled against Jack's shoulder, coughing again.

"Good, just let me do all the work as per usual." Jack joked nervously. It took some fancy maneuvering to get the door open but before long they were headed down the hallway, Jack struggling under the weight of his charge and Mac struggling to keep his eyes open. "And you better not make a habit of this. Don't expect me to carry you out of every mission because I gotta say for a skinny kid you are damn heavy. What have they been feeding ya, anyway?"

"Nnphh…"

Jack chanced a quick look down and grit his teeth at how much blood was saturating Mac's thin torso. Not only that but he was too pale, the skin around his eyes dark and the rest of his face ashen. His hands were clearly shaking, barely keeping pressure on the cloth anymore.

"Hey, keep pressure on that, dude, you're bleeding all over me. It's gross."

"S-sorry."

"Yeah, well, apology accepted but you're still gonna owe me for the dry cleaning bill."

Jack pushed his way through another set of swinging doors. They were so close to the back entrance where Exfil was waiting for them. They just had to go a little farther, Mac had to hang on a little while longer, and then they'd be home free. They would have to come up with an excuse to tell Bozer but they would handle that when the time came.

It took a fraction of a second too long for Jack to realize that Mac hadn't replied to him. That wasn't like Mac. The kid wasn't shy by any means. That's why they got along so well – eventually, at least. Mac could give as good as he got but right now he wasn't responding at all to Jack's lighthearted taunts.

"Mac?"

Silence again.

"Kid?"

Mac's head was hanging over Jack's arm, his eyes all but completely rolled up into his head leaving nothing but eerie white behind. His breathing was coming out in halted, painful sounding gasps but at least that meant he was breathing.

"Stay with me now, homie." Jack said, shaking the boy in his arms, trying to rouse him. It worked a little as Mac's eyes blinked open and Jack was met with cool blue. "I'll getcha home, bud, just like I promised in the sandbox."

"J-aa…"

"Hey, hush now. Just keep breathing, we're almost there."

Jack could see the door now, could hear the horrible, wheezing breathes sawing their way in and out of Mac's damaged lungs, and started running. He didn't care that his arms felt like jelly and his back was going to be feeling this for days, he knew he had to get Mac to Exfil and that was all that mattered.

"Keep that up, bud, in and out just like you've been doing your whole life."

Mac coughed again, harsher and deeper than before. It took all of the strength Jack had not to drop him when he tried to jackknife in his arms.

"Easy, easy." Jack soothed, trying to ignore the fresh blood running down Mac's chin from the corner of his mouth. Mac groaned softly before falling back again, his head tipping back as his eyes fluttered dangerously.

"Hey, eyes open remember." Jack shook Mac again and pushed open the final door with his hip. Once they got outside, Jack could see the van right beyond the tree line and started running again. They were running out of time. "No sleeping on the job. I'm awake, you're awake. Got it? I wanna hear you say it."

"Go-got it." Mac forced out through crimson teeth.

"Good, remember that. You see my eyes open, yours stay open as well."

"Jack, I…" Mac tried to force out but was overtaken by another coughing fit.

"You're gonna be fine, Mac, I promise. Just hang on, I can see the van. We're almost there."

"Oh-kay.."

As soon as they got to the van, the door was shoved open by someone inside and Jack jumped in. He placed Mac on the floor of the vehicle and barely heard the door slam shut and the gravel crunch under the wheels as they skidded away.

Mac was almost immediately lost in a sea of activity as the Exfil team took over first aid and Jack fell against the side wall. He ran his hand over his face and froze as he felt the stickiness of drying blood on his skin. He felt sick and swallowed down the nausea. He had to stay strong for Mac's sake. He didn't know why but this one was different. He'd seen teammates get hurt before, some who had no chance of making it, and he had been able to get through helping them without feeling so shaken. He didn't know how it happened, never in a million years would have guessed it was possible when he first met the kid, but Mac was just…different, and Jack realized in that moment that seeing him so hurt was the most heart wrenching thing he had ever experienced. He never wanted to see it again. He wouldn't let it happen again, not on his watch.

"Sir?" Jack was shaken out of his thoughts by a calming voice. "We've stabilized him as much as we can in here and he's asking for you."

Jack nodded and took a deep breath. He didn't want to see the kid hurt but unfortunately it was too late this time. Now, all he could do was be there for him and help him get better. Then, when Mac was on his feet again and they were back out on missions, he would do everything in his power to keep it from ever happening again. Jack moved forward until he was at Mac's side. He was still far too pale under the oxygen mask and the bandages being pressed against his abdomen were already staining through with blood but Mac's eyes were open. They were half-mast and hazy but he was looking directly at Jack with so much gratitude even around the pain.

"Ja-jack.." Mac croaked from under the mask, his hand coming up to try to push it away.

"Hey, kid." Jack smiled warmly and caught Mac's bobbing hand. He held onto it to keep him from doing something stupid like removing the extra oxygen currently keeping his fingernails and lips from getting any bluer. "Leave that alone will ya."

"Jack," Mac tried again, swallowing down a wince when it caused him to cough.

"You don't have to say anything, man." Jack said, squeezing Mac's cold hand in his. "Just relax, I promised you I'd get you home and I meant it. Just keep breathing."

"Kay," Mac sighed, eyes closing. He didn't open them again until Jack thought he had fallen asleep. "Th-thanks."

Jack swallowed the lump that immediately formed in his throat. He simply nodded, not trusting his voice yet, and brushed a stray strand of blond from Mac's forehead.

"Of course, kid." Jack told him. "I won't let anything like this happen to you again."

Mac nodded, smiling slightly under the mask, before his head fell to the side and his eyes fluttered shut.

Jack knew in their line of work it might not always be that simple but he would always try.

And if anyone ever wanted to hurt his kid again, they were gonna have to go through him, and he felt more than a little sorry for whoever tried.

The End.


End file.
